Grounded
by DarkNymfa
Summary: Valerie is underground. She's not sure how she got here, but who needs memory when you have a data log recording your hunt? Oh jeez. The file's corrupted, and she's only getting disjointed fragments... (For Phic Phight 2019)


Prompt by catalystofthesoul (Tumblr). Also low-key dedicated to everyone who commented on the latest chapter of Disinterred to tell me that they loved the way I write Valerie. Because that may or may not have been the reason why I picked this prompt over the 6 others I was considering.

* * *

When Valerie woke up, the first thing she noticed was that it was dark. Dark, and cramped, and dusty.

The second thing she noticed was that she was wearing her ghost hunting suit. The armor was wrapped protectively around her.

Then she realized that she wasn't lying in her bed. Or her room. Or, hell, even the building where she lived. The cramped space she was in was completely unfamiliar to her.

Which led to the fourth thing she picked up on; she was underground. It was too dark to make out much, though. She wasn't even sure how she could see _anything_, but for the moment that wasn't important. The dirt and rocks and– was that debris from a building? Yes, it certainly seemed to be – it was all pretty clear.

So, she was somewhere underground. She didn't know how deep, and she didn't know how she had gotten here. It looked like a building had collapsed on top of her. Had one? It wouldn't be unreasonable, with the damage ghost fights tended to cause.

She could find out easily enough, anyway. Because it didn't matter that she didn't remember what had happened – she had her suit, and her suit had data logs. Logs which included audio and video, nowadays. She simply had to watch the newest file and figure out what had happened to her. Based on that, she could figure out how to get out again. How much rubble was above her, really? Could she dig her way out, or would she have to rely on someone else?

Was she close enough to the surface that someone could find her before she died?

Valerie shook off the morbid thoughts. She had to focus on the here and now. It would be fine – she would get out of here.

Her suit wasn't quite cooperating, but Valerie managed to summon her helmet – why hadn't she been wearing it? – and got the log to play on her helmet display. Or, what was left of the file. It seemed that it had somehow gotten corrupted.

The video was almost incomprehensible, blown out beyond use. It simply showed flashes of green and black and white – nothing else. The audio was more useful, but only slightly. It was filled with static, but occasionally it broke up enough for her to hear snatches of voices. Still too staticky to recognize, but anything was better than nothing.

"…_watch out!"_ and _"…s dange…"_ and even a very frantic _"Va-"_ which dissolved into static as the voice increased in volume.

Nothing she could use, right now. It didn't tell her _anything_ about where she was or how she had gotten there.

She shifted into a sitting position. With her previous plan a failure, she decided to try and examine the non-existent light. It wasn't bright but it was enough for her to see – somewhat, at least. An opening to the surface, perhaps?

But a frantic examination of the cramped space revealed no light source. The light seemed to come from nowhere – everywhere she looked was equally bright. For some reason, she seemed to be able to just… _see_, despite the (almost?) complete dark she was in.

It didn't make any sense. Actually, no, scratch that. It _did_. It was probably just a feature from her suit, since the thing was stuffed full of those. Sure, she had never noticed this one before, but that didn't mean anything. After all, what else could be giving her apparent night vision?

Still, it was hard to see. If she just had a light, maybe she could find an opening of sorts. This was, unfortunately, a feature she knew her suit lacked. It was full of all kinds of things that made hunting ghosts easier. A light was not one of those – ghosts naturally emitted light.

But even though her suit had no way to comply to this request, and thus _shouldn't_ respond in any way, a tingle deep inside her still answered. It was an eerie feeling, one she didn't recognize, a cold crawling in her chest–

Suddenly blue ectoplasm burst to life around her hand. She yelped, waving her hand around frantically to extinguish the flickering light. But the ectoplasm stubbornly stayed lit.

Still half-panicking, Valerie started to realize that it didn't hurt. Somehow.

As she calmed down, she also realized that the cold energy in her chest hadn't left – it thrummed with energy still, in her chest and down her arm. She saw the ball of ectoplasm flicker in sync with the beat of _whatever_ was in her chest.

She wasn't sure what drove her to her next action. It just… made sense to her. The energy, the cold in her chest, had seemingly responded to her silent question for light. So then, commanding it to go away should–

And it did. The ectoplasm extinguished itself on her silent command.

It was like controlling her suit – yet nothing like it at the same time. Because _this_, this was energy – a cold power – centered in her chest. Her suit was metallic – and while yes, it was controlled by her mind, she couldn't _feel_ it. It wasn't part of her actual body. Not like this.

She bent her head down, looking at the armored hands in her lap. Slowly turning them around, she examined the suit that covered her, still. It looked like her usual suit – black with red detailing – and the plates seemed to be the same as always. A strong tough material, but light enough not to constrict her.

Valerie had never bothered to figure out where _this_ armor had come from.

She wondered if maybe she _should_ have.

The ball of cold in her chest hummed in accordance with her emotions. It seemed to seep more power into her body, but she didn't know what that was supposed to achieve. It didn't feel like the ectoplasmic blast from before – not as strong, and spread across her entire body rather than focused in a specific part of it.

Closing her eyes, Valerie chose to focus on the feeling of her actual body instead. The slow but strong beat of her heart. The comforting feeling of air rushing through her lungs. The shifting of muscles as she moved even the slightest bit.

When she opened her eyes again, nothing had changed. Not that she had expected it to, but…

Wait. With the way she was sitting, with the way she had her head angled, she should be seeing her own body. Her arms and her legs.

She wasn't.

Freaking out a little, Valerie twitched – barely restrained her automatic response to stand up and back away. What the hell was happening?

The energy in her chest responded, and it drew back its power. Immediately her limbs started to fade back into visibility. Valerie sighed at the familiar sight.

Until she realized what it meant.

Shit. _Shit_.

Had a ghost somehow settled into her body, like a partial overshadowing? No, surely not – she seemed to be in full control over the powers. Had her suit somehow granted her ghost powers, then? Had she become some sort of human/ghost hybrid?

Oh. Well. She supposed that that wasn't entirely impossible. She had met Dani, after all. Phantom's cousin, who was somehow half-ghost.

Valerie didn't know how the girl had become that way – or had she been born like that? – but then, to be fair, she didn't know how _she_ had become like this, herself. Perhaps that was just part of the affliction – just like ghosts weren't supposed to know about their deaths.

If that was the case, then Valerie would be more than happy to settle for remembering everything else. She would rather remember her life, her friends and family and loved ones, than know what had happened to her. That, she might be able to figure out. Memories? Those couldn't be replaced.

But now that she was thinking about Dani… Didn't that girl have a second form, a more ghostly one? One that resembled Phantom?

The cold in her chest (a ghost core, she assumed) pulsed in answer. A sudden flash of light blinded her, and she slapped her hands over her eyes in a hopeless attempt to protect her vision.

When Valerie pulled her hands away and blinked the spots from her vision, she could immediately tell that the space around her grown brighter. This was not very surprising – ghosts glow, after all. Dani had.

A glance down confirmed her suspicions. She was glowing – and her colors had gotten flipped around.

She was still wearing her armored suit, but now it was white with blue highlights. She wasn't entirely sold on the color, but she supposed it made sense – the ectoplasm she had controlled earlier had been blue, too. And Vlad had blue eyes, which had turned red when _he_ became a ghost. It made sense that her suit had done the same in reverse.

Her helmet had disappeared. Apparently it didn't carry over, possibly because she hadn't worn it when she first became half-ghost. Or whatever had happened, exactly. Something like that, probably.

There was no mirror to check her appearance, but Valerie could guess. Dani's black hair had become white when she had transformed, and her own suit had done the same. Presumably, her hair had thus also turned white.

She wondered, briefly, what color her eyes were. But she dismissed the thought almost immediately – it wasn't important for the moment.

Okay, okay.

Alright.

Focus on the situation. Sum up everything she knew. Stay calm.

So, here's what she knew. She was somewhere underground. She didn't know how she had gotten there. She had somehow become half ghost – and had somehow broken her suit in the process.

That was it. That was everything she knew about her current situation. That was… that was just _sad_.

But, back to the plan. Step one was easy; get out of here.

Now, that was easier said than done. But… ghosts could turn intangible, yes? She had even experienced it before, herself. Phantom had turned her intangible before, when they had broken in the Fenton's lab. How hard could it really be to mimic that? To turn herself intangible and fly up using her hoverboard?

Assuming she could summon said hoverboard. But, well. Only one way to find out, right?

She pushed herself to her feet, remaining somewhat crouched. There wasn't a lot of room in the tight space. But there should be enough for her hoverboard, at least.

Thankfully, it responded to her mental command. It formed underneath her feet, the hum of its engines somehow echoing in her core. It, too, was now white with blue accents. An ectoplasmic construct, rather than her normal board?

Weird, but whatever. It seemed to work just fine, as she hovered slightly above the ground. As long as it would work, she wouldn't question it.

She angled herself upwards. The dirt and debris that greeted her wasn't an encouraging sight, but… she would be fine. She promised herself – and she had promised her dad.

Valerie thought of the tingly feeling that had washed over her when Phantom had turned her intangible. The core in her chest responded, and the feeling once more spread throughout her body. It was… It was weird, using ghost powers like this.

Doubtful that the intangibility would last long, Valerie threw herself upwards as quickly as possible. She encouraged her board to go as fast as possible – and her core too, for all that it mattered.

A few long moments, she saw nothing but dirt and darkness. And, oh god, what if she turned tangible _now_ – but then the fresh outside air greeted her. Oh, and how she had missed it. She hadn't even realized until now.

It didn't take long for her to start taking in her environment. The area where she had emerged was in ruins. No one was nearby – evacuated, most likely, based on the damage. Large pieces of debris laid scattered around, a couple crumbled walls indicating where buildings had once been. Soot covered the ground, clear signs of a fire long conquered.

What had happened here? How long… how long had she been underground?

Her core surged once again, but this time not with power. Not really. Instead it seemed to emit a wave of heat – like she had passed too close by an overheating appliance. Or stood too close to the grills at the Nasty Burger.

"Val?" a soft echoing voice asked, cautious.

She whirled around to see Phantom there, a shocked and… pained?… expression on his face.

Repressing her automatic response – a grimace and a reprimanding over using her name – she instead greeted him. She was too tired to be hostile. Not physically – maybe physically – but mostly mentally. "Phantom."

Then she remembered that Dani was Phantom's cousin. She would need help with this, she was sure. And who better to ask than someone who was familiar with this? With being half ghost?

Valerie licked her lips, then hesitantly asked, "Do you… have a way to contact your cousin?"

"My cousin…?" Phantom eyed her, confused and a little wary. "Why?"

She shifted, uncertain. Dani, she might trust, but Phantom she didn't. Well, a little perhaps, but not much. But she didn't see a way around this.

"I think… I might've become part ghost, too. Somehow." She looked away from him, glancing around them instead. "I don't know what happened – can't remember – but…"

"Stop," Phantom said, holding up a hand. Then, in a tone that was clearly meant to be soothing, he continued, "It's okay, I get it. You died Val, alright? But that's okay – being dead isn't all that bad, right? You don't have to lie to yourself, to pretend otherwise."

And now a flicker of her usual hostility returned. How _dare_ he. How dare Phantom act so condescending, like she didn't _know_ what she was talking about. How _could_ he!

Her anger thus kindled, she felt her core eagerly respond to her anger. Ghosts were emotional creatures, she knew. It made sense that her core would be eager to lap it up.

Blue ectoplasm stated swirling around her clenched fists once more. Her eyes felt like they were burning – but not like tears, it was _different_ somehow.

Then her core just… quietened. Seemingly gave up. Its power faltered and once more the bright white light washed over her – this time she could barely make out the white rings – and then suddenly she was human again. Or as human as she could be, now.

The light show apparently did a good job of shutting Phantom up, at least. He opened and closed his mouth a few times. Then he groaned, deeply and passionately. "Of course," he muttered, dragging his white-gloved hands down his face. "Of _course_ it had to be _her_, of all people."

"Excuse me!" she protested, her core flickering up once in annoyance. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

Phantom groaned again, flapping a hand in her direction to wave off her concern. Then he moved the hand on his face to pinch his nose instead.

"If you're looking for help for the halfa thing, you don't have to try and contact Danielle. Not that that would've been a huge success, because I don't know where she is, either."

Frowning, Valerie crossed her arms. "Phantom, you're making even less sense than usual, and I'm not in the mood."

The ghost nodded, looking away from her for a moment. When he turned back to her, his expression was sheepish. "I, um. I'm also half ghost."

Her jaw dropped, and she looked Phantom over once more, critically. It wasn't hard to imagine him human – he already looked fairly human, and his similarity to Dani was honestly frightening. Just flipping his hair color back to black was enough.

She didn't know how to feel about this, though. She's pissed and exhilarated and upset and–

Her clenched fist hit him in the upper arm, and Danny yelped, flinching away from her. "How could you!" she yelled at him instead, digging her still-armored fingers deeper into her palms. "I can't believe you! You're one of my best _fucking_ friends, and you–"

Shaking her head, she glared at him. Her core eagerly supported the glare with more burning in her eyes, which seemed to be doing a good job of intimidating Danny. She can't believe this. One of her only friends _knows_ this, knew what she was dealing with and how to handle it–

But he also let her hunt him. Hunt him and hurt him despite _knowing_ she didn't want to hurt human beings. And as Phantom, he has done bad things. To her, and to Amity Park.

She snarled, but this time Danny didn't move. He just raised his hands placatingly.

"Valerie," he begged, "Please calm down. I'm sorry, okay? But if you calm down, I promise that I'll explain."

Valerie took a deep breath, then held it for a long moment. He was right. She had to calm down. She couldn't let her anger rule her, not again. That was how Vlad had manipulated her, controlled her.

That couldn't happen again.

When she felt like she was calm again – or calm enough, at least – she nodded at Danny. She still felt agitated – both in the angry and in the energetic way – but she could deal with that.

Danny nodded back, and then light washed over him. He dropped the last bit of distance to the floor, having returned to, well, _Danny_. Danny Fenton, instead of Danny Phantom.

_God_, how had _no one_ seen that before? Were they really _this_ blind?

"Can you retract your armor?" he asked her as he moved closer. He went slow, clearly still cautious. She couldn't blame him.

With a frown, she tried. The armor seemed fried, the nanotech set together and refusing to come apart again. And it seemed to have disconnected from her mind – every time she tried to call on it, her core responded instead.

"No," she finally answered, looking back at Danny. "I think it got fried. It's not responding anymore – only my core is."

Danny nodded, looking thoughtful. "That makes sense. Your armor, or, well, this version of your armor, was made by Technus. Since it's an ectoplasmic construct, working via ectoplasmic energy, the signal might be blocked by your own ectoplasmic energy."

He slowly reached for her arm, and she didn't move as he grabbed it. He inspected her arm – or more accurately, the armor covering it – with a creased brow. Finally he shook his head, somewhat disappointed. "I think we might have to break you out of it. I don't think it came with a release-all function."

"No, because that would've been too easy, huh." She sighed, but silently agreed. At least the helmet hadn't come back when she had shifted back. Small mercies.

"Let's take cover behind that wall." Danny pointed towards one of the more intact walls, a couple feet away. "The area was evacuated so people will probably stay away, but better safe than sorry, right?"

"Yeah," she agreed, trudging over there. She felt tired and she just really wanted to sleep. It was a weird kind of exhaustion, bone-deep – or deeper, perhaps. Like her very being was tired.

They sat down on the dirty floor, uncaring about the soot stains their clothes would surely gain. Or, well, Valerie's armor would probably be fine. Danny's jeans? Hopeless.

"So how do you plan on getting this stuff off of me, anyway?" She quirked a brow at Danny. He remained silent for a moment, considering the question.

Then his eyes brightened – literally started glowing, but blue instead of the green associated with Phantom – and the temperature around them dropped. He held out a hand, and slowly but surely, ice started forming above the palm of his hand. It gathered, crystal by crystal, in the shape of a knife.

Then it dropped into his hand, apparently fully formed. Danny offered it to her, a shaky grin on his face. "Here, you take this one. I'll make another one for myself."

"Jesus Danny," she muttered under her breath, but she took the knife anyway. Carefully she started wedging it underneath some of the plating on her arms. It was a good excuse to look away from Danny. Seeing him use his ghost powers was… discomforting. She _knew_ he was half-ghost – that he was Phantom.

But knowing and _knowing_ were different things. Seeing was believing. And for all that she _knew_, she didn't _believe_. Had yet to connect her mental images of Phantom and Danny, despite them being one and the same.

"Too much?" Danny asked with a laugh, having conjured up a second ice knife with more ease. He gestured for her leg, and after a moment of hesitation, she stretched it out for him.

"A little bit, yeah." With a _snap_, the piece of armor she had been worked on broke off. For some reason, the armor acted more like actual plates of armor instead of nanotech, now. "How much of your power can you use in human form?"

"Ehh." He wiggled his free hand for a moment before turning back to the armor. "Most powers can be used in human form just fine, although it's harder to do. They tend to be weaker as a result, but it's not a direct limitation. Some powers are even _too_ easy to use in human form. You might've noticed the feeling of your eyes burning, earlier?"

She nodded in answer, glancing up from where she was working. "Yeah," he continued. "That was your eyes glowing. It's a real pain, has almost blown my cover _so_ many times. Usually happens when you're angry – or it does for me, at least."

"That sucks." A snap as Danny broke off part of her leg armor. "But all your powers work in human form? Ectoblasts, intangibility, flight? All of it?"

"Well, yeah." He dropped the knife to wriggle the remainder of the plate he had broken. "My really strong one, the Ghostly Wail, I've never tried. But if everything else works I don't see why that one wouldn't."

"I don't think that I'm familiar with that power." The knife in her hand creaked as she put too much force on it. She was a little amazed that it wasn't weakening in the heat. "Also, that name is stupid as shit."

Danny snorted. "I'll keep that in mind, thanks. And be glad you haven't seen it – it's kind of a finishing move for me. I don't use it often – too much damage."

"Then when _have_ you used it?" And how had he gotten it? Why would he – as Danny or as Phantom – need a power _that_ destructive? Did it reflect on him, who he was, somehow?

"That's… a long story." He pulled loose the rest of the piece he was working on, falling onto his back as the thing suddenly gave. He grimaced at the soot on his clothes, but went right back to work. "I've never used it here. Well, I have in an alternate reality, but that doesn't count. And never around people who could've gotten hurt."

"That's a bold claim, ghost boy." She wrenched another piece of her arm armor loose, freeing most of her left arm. "Because you keep telling people you never hurt anyone, but I _know_ you have."

Danny also broke away another plate, huffing angrily. "Yeah? And you've never hurt anybody, of course." Then he sighed, and continued with a more subdued tone. "Look, I try my best, alright? But I'm only human – or, well, you know what I mean. There is only so much I can do."

"And that involved kidnapping the mayor and robbing jewelry stores?" She shot him an unimpressed glare. "And that's not to say anything about that ghost dog at my dad's work."

The boy groaned, driving his knife a little deeper into the armor that covered her. But he remained careful – he had yet to nick her. "Look, the thing with the dog wasn't my fault, okay! He was just looking for his toy, and he kept coming to me, probably because I was the only ghost around."

Another piece of armor snapped off, and Danny shifted around to get better access to the next part before he continued. "As for the rest… The mayor was overshadowed by a ghost named Walker, and _he_ grabbed _me_. The robberies were…" He paused. Seemed to consider his words for a moment.

"The robberies involved a man named Freakshow. He had a staff which he could use to control ghosts – including partial ghosts. Ask Sam or Tucker if you don't believe that he controlled me." He looked up at her, his blue eyes big and watery. "I promise, Valerie, that I never intended to hurt anyone. Least of all you."

She sighed, looking away from him to focus on the armor. "I just… I don't know, Danny. I thought I knew you. I'm just…"

"Tired?" he finished for her, smiling a little. "Yeah, half dying does that to a person. It should get better over the next few days – or maybe you just get used to it, I don't know."

They worked in silence for a few moments. Then, quietly, she asked, "How did it happen to you?"

"Accident in my parents' lab." He licked his lips, unsure. "Electrocution via the Ghost Portal. Sam and Tucker were there, which helped, I think."

She nodded, but didn't say anything. At least he had had Tucker and Sam. They might not know anything about ghosts, or how they functioned, but they were good friends.

And she would have Danny. He was a good friend too. And he knew about this, about being half-ghost.

"You'll be fine," Danny assured, apparently picking up on her silent distress. "You won't be alone, okay? I can help you. We'll meet for training – until you get your powers under control, at least."

"I don't even know what to do afterwards," she confessed, pulling off the entire glove on her left hand. She shifted to her chest armor now – it would be too awkward for Danny to work on that. "I've just… I've been the Red Huntress for so long now. I can't imagine _not_ doing anything as her. But the suit is fried, I can't use it anymore."

"You still have it in ghost form." Danny broke off the boot, and then shifted to her other leg. "And as far as anyone knows, the Red Huntress died in the attack today. If you use your ghost form instead, you can work off of that. Tell everyone you died and came back as a ghost."

She hummed. "And that way I can clear your reputation as well. Say that as a ghost myself, I finally understand that not all ghosts are bad. That you weren't lying." She freed the first corner of the chest plate. "That'll explain our sudden truce, at least."

"Do you really mean that, Val?" Danny grinned at her, bright and hopeful. "A truce, just like that?"

"You're my friend, Danny." She sighed, toying with the ice knife for a moment. "And… things are weird, but. You're still my friend. And I could really use that right now."

A _snap_ as another piece went off of her leg. "Then I would be happy to accept your truce, Huntress. And I would be more than happy to help you in whatever way possible."

The second corner of her chest piece came loose, and Valerie peeled the entire thing off in one go. "Much appreciated."

She moved to take apart the layered plates on her ribs, but paused when she couldn't see her hands. "Uh. Speaking of help…?"

Danny looked and barked out a laugh. At her glare, he quietened down again. "Sorry, sorry. I'm just used to having that happen to _me_. Uh, try to focus on being all visible. You can feel your body, yeah? Try to imagine _seeing_ it too."

She followed his advice, and her hands came back. She set the knife to her ribs. "Thanks. Is that, uh, a common problem?"

"Was for me." He only sounded a _little_ sorry, the bastard. "But your suit works roughly the same, right? So it might be easier for you. And I'll be there to help you, too."

"Can't be too soon," Valerie grumbled, yanking the first plate loose. After that one, the rest followed in a cascade. "I'm not very excited about the prospects of accidentally blasting my dad in the face with an ectoblast."

"Yeah, Tucker wasn't very excited about that either." Danny loosened her other boot, too. "Although you won't have to worry about that for a bit. It was a few months before I did my first ectoblast."

_That_ tickled her competitive side. "Yeah? Funny, because an ectoblast was the first thing I did when I woke up."

Danny looked up from her leg, frowning. "Oh. Yeah, I guess you did summon two earlier. Maybe we _should_ work on that – you might've gotten it earlier because it's similar to your guns."

"Joy o joy." The plates on the other side of her ribs tore off, too. She moved to the ones covering her stomach, now. "We should… probably start working on control soon, then."

"Probably," Danny agreed, tearing the last plate of armor off of her legs. He hesitated as he looked her over – she pointed to her back, and he smiled gratefully as he moved over. "I can drop by tonight, if you want? I sneak out of the house all the time for patrols, but Sam and Tucker can handle those for tonight."

"You're not afraid that they'll get hurt?" Working on the plates on her stomach while Danny was at her back wasn't ideal, but she would make do. "They don't even have armor, do they?"

"I'm afraid every time one of them goes out," Danny confessed, quietly. She could hear him shifting, but she couldn't see him while he was behind her. "And I was afraid every time _you_ went out, too. None of you have – had – ghost powers, but you all keep going out anyway. And that scared me. Because I couldn't always be there. I couldn't always keep you safe, especially _you_, Valerie. Because you wouldn't _let_ me."

An uncomfortable silence fell, broken only by the sound of their knives scraping past the remaining bits of armor. Finally Danny broke it again, voice heavy with unshed tears.

"I thought you _died_, Valerie. And it would've been _my_ fault. Because _I_ didn't beat the ghost fast enough. Because _I_ didn't catch Cujo before he ruined your life. Because _I_ didn't stop Vlad before he turned you into a ghost hunter. Into his little puppet." A sigh, weary. "Because _I_ wasn't good enough."

Shit. She wasn't any good with emotions, with comforting people. But she had to try, at least. Danny was her friend, and he was genuinely broken up about this. Blaming himself for something completely out of his control.

"Danny," she said, as gently as she could. "Don't be a fucking idiot."

She reached behind her to grab his hand – settled for his arm when she caught that instead. She met his eyes over her shoulder. "It's not your fault, okay? It was _my_ decision to hunt ghosts. _I_ kept going out, knowing how dangerous it could be – how dangerous it _is_."

"But–" he started to protest, but she shushed him.

"If anyone is to blame it's Vlad, alright?" She turned to face him properly, trying to convey the right emotions. "It was _Vlad_ who gave me my first weapons – my first suit. It was _Vlad_ who kept pushing me on and on. If you're gonna blame anyone, blame _him_."

Danny laughed, his stony expression finally breaking. She smiled back. "Alright, alright. I'm fine with blaming Vlad."

"Good." She turned forward again, breaking another piece of armor off. They were getting close, now. "Because I just realized that there is another problem."

"Uh oh." A snap as Danny took off a part too. "What's wrong now?"

"My dad." The last piece went, her torso now free of armor. Just the few on her back and her right arm left. "He knows that I'm the Red Huntress – which you already knew because _you_ revealed my secret identity to him. If I tell everyone that the Red Huntress died, what about him?"

A sound somewhere between a growl and a groan. Then a loud _crack_ as another piece of armor went. "I dunno. You could… tell him that it's a new feature of your suit? And that you lied about dying as an excuse for your truce with Phantom?"

She snorted as she turned to offer him her arm. She didn't want to risk stabbing herself by trying to remove it left-handed. "That might just be the worst lie I've ever heard, Danny, and I've heard you tell a _lot_ of shitty excuses."

"Yeah, well, what am I supposed to say?" He twisted the knife under one of the plates on her arm. "'Sorry Mr. Lancer, I just gotta go punch Skulker real quick'? I bet that _that_ would go over well."

"Yeah, ha ha." She rolled her eyes at him, kicking him gently with her right foot. "But seriously, Danny, how did you tell _your_ parents?"

He froze, knife hovering just above her arm. Why did he–

Oh. The Fentons _hunt_ Phantom. They don't… they don't know. They must not know – they love Danny too much to keep it up otherwise.

The guilty expression on Danny's face confirmed her suspicion.

He never told his parents.

"What the hell– Really, Danny? You didn't tell them?!" Her fists clenched, and she felt heat building up behind her eyes. Making them glow, no doubt. "Why the fuck not?! Why would you let them _hunt_ you?"

"I–" He fidgeted, then fell silent again. Went back to work, prying off the last bits of armor remaining on her arm. "I never… told anybody. Sam and Tucker were there for my accident. Jazz saw me transform – and then didn't tell me until like a year later – and Vlad… _Yuck_. Vlad found out because he punched Phantom until I ran out of energy and transformed back."

The plate he was working on came loose, and he moved to the last one – the last one beside her glove, that was. "I just… I know I should've told them. I almost did _so many_ times. But I… I was scared. _Am_ scared. And I know that they love me more than they hate ghosts, but…"

He fell silent. Valerie let it linger, content to sit in the quiet. The only sound was Danny's knife scratching along the armor.

"You gotta tell them," she finally said, as the last piece broke in half and released. "Sooner or later they'll find out, Danny. Won't it be better to just _tell_ them, on your own grounds? Instead of having them find out when you get, I don't know, _shot down_?"

Danny doesn't answer, just dug the knife into the glove – loosening the connections so she can take it off. It clicked loose, and finally she was free.

"Yeah, you're right." The knife in his hand suddenly fell apart, melting into water. The one Valerie had laid aside followed the same fate. "I guess… I guess I should. Before it's too late."

She smiled at him, and he shot her a hesitant grin back. "Good. And I'll tell my dad as well – about me, that is. Not about you or Dani. Or Vlad, I guess."

"Sounds like a plan to me." Danny scrambled up onto his feet, then offered his hand to her.

She took it, dusting the soot and bits of armor off of herself. "So I'll see you tonight at my place?"

"Yeah." He smirked, then shifted to his ghost form – to Phantom. All the ash and dust had disappeared off of him – even his hair was immaculate and white. "See you tonight, Val."

Then he launched himself off, leaving her to pick her own way back home. She tracked the direction he went, and realized she was just a street away from her apartment in Elmerton.

"Jerk," she laughed under her breath. Then she walked home, the core in her chest humming in pleasure.

* * *

This was intended to me a normal 3-4k one-shot but then Valerie wanted to have a serious conversation. I also wrote this last night in 4 hours and while I've read through it for a run of editing, I might've missed some stuff. As always, if you spot any typos or dumb mistakes of any kind - or just have advice in general - lemme know!  
Also I'm like 75% sure that this is my last entry for the Phight. I hit my personal goal of 30k words - and I just bought Spider-Man for the PS4 so like, priorities.


End file.
